It’s a common cause of heel pain.

Researchers from Hong Kong Baptist University report benefit with acupuncture.

First, the details.

• 53 people were randomly assigned to a treatment group.
  • Needling at the acupoint PC 7: Purported to have a specific effect for heel pain.
  • Needling at the acupoint Hegu (LI 4): Has analgesic properties and served here as the control group.
• Treatment was an identical method of manual needling applied to the two acupoints 5 times a week for 2 weeks.

And, the results.

• There were significant differences in reduction in pain scores, favoring acupoint PC 7 at 1 month for morning pain, overall pain, and pressure pain threshold.
• No serious side effects were observed in either group.

The bottom line?
The authors concluded, “Acupuncture can provide pain relief to patient[s] with plantar fasciitis, and… PC 7 is a relatively specific acupoint for heel pain.”

More on plantar fasciitis and electroacupuncture treatment can be found here.

11/27/09 22:50 JR